
<b>Wanted: Better Ninth-Grade Teachers</b>
<br>By Letitia Stein 
<br>www.edletter.org/betterninth-gradeteachers.shtml

<br>This article from the January/February 2009 <i>Harvard Education Letter<i> reveals how concern over graduation rates has schools rethinking teacher assignments, specifically ninth-grade teachers.  If talented, experienced teachers in some schools want a prime parking space or super-clean classroom, they need only say yes to one thing: volunteer to teach ninth grade. In other schools, AP teachers are required to teach freshmen and a schoolwide emphasis on cultivating ninth graders means teachers are fighting for open positions in a freshman academy. 